Budgeting is the key to financial success. On our journey to taking control of our finances, we were looking for a solution to help us budget better. I had previously used You Need A Budget also known as YNAB when it was a downloadable software and hated manually tracking my expenses. Then in late 2016, a software update came and YNAB went cloud-based. This was a game changer. YNAB now has the option to auto-import your transactions. This feature alone took the app from an awesome piece of software to the best budget app available.
YNAB wasn’t our first rodeo with budgeting. We tried a pen and paper. We wrote down our expense and projected income. However, we were missing the main component of the budget. We didn’t have an easy way to track our expenses. We tried other software like Mint and EveryDollar but it just didn’t meet our needs. YNAB is hands down the best budget app available because it is strictly a budgeting tool. It was made to track income and expenses.
Before we get into what makes YNAB the best budget app, let us talk a bit about the company itself and what they stand for.
The Mission of YNAB
YNAB was founded in 2004 when Jesse Mecham needed a solution for his family to budget easier. He had used spreadsheets in the past but wanted something more intuitive. Jesse’s story resonates with so many of us because we all struggle with finances at some point in our adult life. He understands the pain points of budgeting and designed his software to meet the needs of families all around the world.
YNAB is a zero-based budgeting tool. By entering only the money you have available and budgeting just what is in the bank account you don’t run the risk of over drafting. Zero-based budgeting is the best way to budget when paying off debt and breaking the paycheck to paycheck cycle. The best budget app really thought through what the consumer wanted when designing this app and instills core budgeting values in us.
The mission of YNAB is to help you break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, get out of debt, and save money. That’s what we all want, right?
One of the reasons I love YNAB and think it is the best budget app is due to the 4 core values that Jesse has instilled in the software users. While you can use the app any way you want to meet your budgeting needs, if you follow these 4 principles the software will not only change your finances but also your money mindset.
If you would like to try YNAB you can do so for 34 days free. The free trial will give you all of the features of YNAB so you can truly take advantage of the software to see if it works for your family.
4 Rules of YNAB
Give Every Dollar a Job
This is simple and comes back to a lot of budgeting principles I have followed. Every dollar you earns needs to be working for you. When using the YNAB software you want to budget every dollar available. This helps you be more intentional with your money. It will allow you to make the money work for you in the best way possible before your next paycheck.
Embrace Your True Expenses
Embracing your true expenses is hard. We don’t always want to face our budget and what our money needs to do. However, if we embrace our true expenses we can plan for the larger expenses down the road. By planning for upcoming expenses you won’t have to dip into savings or use a credit card.
Roll With the Punches
This rule is a game changer for our budget. While your budget is important knowing that it can be changed during the month is even more important. One of the main goals of YNAB is to not overspend in a specific category. If for some reason you do overspend a bit then you roll with the punches. Rolling with the punches means moving money from one category that may not be as important to cover a category you overspent in. You’ll always stay in the green this way.
This rule and how the software is designed to help you roll with the punches is one of the main reasons I believe YNAB is the best budget app to manage your money.
Live On Last Month’s Income
This is a fun rule and a lot of people turn living on last month’s income into a game. Live on Last Month’s Income and Age Your Money simply means spend money today that you earned in the past. If you get your paycheck and don’t spend it for a week then your age of money is 7 days. This age of money number continues to grow as you grow your savings and build your funds. The key is to age your money at least a month. If you are living on last month’s income budgeting becomes so much easier and a lot less stressful.
If you would like to try YNAB you can do so for 34 days free. The free trial will give you all of the features of YNAB so you can truly take advantage of the software to see if it works for your family.
Reasons YNAB Is the Best Budget App
YNAB Connects to Your Bank Accounts
The newest version of YNAB is cloud-based which makes connecting your bank accounts super simple. I believe this feature is available for most USA based banks. You enter your login and password for your bank accounts and YNAB automatically imports your transactions for you.
After your transactions are imported you can easily categorize them based on the categories you have set up. If you shop at the same places frequently YNAB will remember the category you selected previously making budgeting that much easier.
You’ll easily be able to see if you overspend because there will be a bright red bubble. You will need to roll with the punches and fix this overspending before moving on with your budget. It truly forces you to live with your decisions and opens your eyes to your spending habits.
Budget Categories
When you first get started with YNAB there will be prepopulated Categories and subcategories. This can be helpful to get started but I love that these can be changed. I probably have more categories than necessary but one of the reasons I love YNAB is because there are no set rules to how many categories you can have. If you want to budget everything from Groceries to Eating Out at Restaurants to Eating at Fast Food places you can. You don’t have to lump all of these into one singular food category which is helpful. By having multiple categories you can see exactly where you are overspending and may need to change your habits.
YNAB Reports
Spending Report
This report shows you everything you have earned for the year and a breakdown of the category you spent the money in. It shows you a percentage of your income that was spent in each category which is helpful to see where you are spending every dollar. You can also view monthly trends.
Net Worth
With YNAB You can have both tracking accounts (like your checking and savings) and non-tracking accounts (like retirement and home values). The net worth report will show you exactly where your net worth is and will allow you to compare it to previous months.
Income v Expenses
This is probably my favorite report. Income v Expenses will show what you are spending every month and in what category. It also shows you all of your income for the month and what the source of income was (if you categorize it that way!). This report shows me if we are spending more in one particular month and what big expenses I have had. It makes planning for the future easy. This report also shows you the average for each category so if it’s a regular expense you can budget accordingly.
YNAB Support
Forum
The forum allows you to connect with other YNAB users and ask questions. It is a great community of like-minded money nerds who are all willing to help each other.
Help Docs
These articles will help you get started and use the YNAB software to its full potential.
Weekly Videos
Jesse has a weekly video series he calls “Whiteboard Wednesday” on Youtube where he shares tips and tricks on budgeting better. He covers a variety of topics and I encourage you to check them out even if you decide not to use the software.
Podcasts
The podcast is a great place to get bite-sized pieces of information. Each episode is less than 10 minutes which makes the information easy to digest.
Weekly Newsletter
The weekly newsletter sends helpful tips as well as links to encouraging blog posts. I enjoy receiving the newsletter for all of the bits of budgeting wisdom that are included.
FAQ’s
There are links to the most asked questions in the FAQ’s as well as a link back to the Help Documents. The help documents will be where you find most of the information needed to use the software.
Classes / Workshops
YNAB offers FREE online workshops every day of the week! Yes, you read that right – LIVE – EVERY DAY! This makes YNAB the best budgeting app. What other budgeting software has live workshops where you can not only learn how to use the software but also ask questions to a trained educator? There are classes on everything from learning about the 4 Rules of YNAB to Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle. These classes will offer you valuable information to help you succeed in using the app.
Mobile App
If you have purchased a subscription to the YNAB software you can take advantage of the mobile app available in both iTunes and Google Play. The mobile app allows you to track your spending on the go and check your categories. It can also be used on multiple devices so both you and your spouse can use it! Win! I am sure there are features to the mobile app but I honestly don’t use it all that often. I probably should though!
YNAB is the Best Budget App to Manage Your Money
There you have it. An overview of the YNAB app and why I truly believe it is the best budget app available on the market today. My husband and I were drowning in debt when we started using YNAB. It has helped us gain control of our money and pay off over $50,000 in consumer debt. Before YNAB if we had money in the bank we thought we were good to spend. YNAB has really opened our eyes to what budgeting should be and really makes us think about our transactions and goals.
If you would like to try YNAB you can do so for 34 days free. The free trial will give you all of the features of YNAB so you can truly take advantage of the software to see if it works for your family. If at the end of the 34 days you still aren’t sure if the app is right for you just email support. They often extend the trial period if you are serious about making the software work for you.
I hope you’ll give YNAB a try and discover why it is the best budget app. Take advantage of the resources available so you get the whole user experience. It will help you use the tool better.
If you already use YNAB – let me know – what is your favorite feature?
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